Dozens of expatriates face deportation even if they can prove that absconding cases filed by their employers are false, after the Interior Ministry became solely responsible for looking into such cases. The labor relations department at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor used to handle investigations in cases filed by employers who claim that their employees went missing and failed to report to work without valid reasons.

The process allowed the department to reveal when employers made false accusations against workers to deny their rights, or negotiate a settlement between the two parties after the absconding employee was summoned.

The department also determined when a worker committed a violation of the labor law that requires deportation, and approved workers’ requests to transfer to another employer in case their original employers were uncooperative. But things have changed when the Interior Ministry was recently assigned to handle absconding cases as misdemeanors, allowing senior officials to make so-called ‘administrative deportation’ decisions without giving workers the right of due legal process.